It's late. Agent Jeff Brown is rubbing his eyes after another long day. The threat of HAMMER hangs over every move he makes. With no super powered team at his disposal and the threat of several 'undesirables', such as the Master, growing daily, he is very much under the gun to get results or hand over super power operations to Osborne and company, which he is loathe to do. The Prime Minister has been being more aggressive in Cabinet, pushing a deal with HAMMER much like NORAD. Brown's efforts to show her the mistakes in her position have lost him a lot of access. As he starts to doze off Sasquatch and Arachne come in.
Arachne: So the job has worn you out that badly, Agent Brown. I wondered when you'd break.
Sasquatch: Jeff, maybe it's time we faced facts: Julia and I alone can't the defence of Canada. You should be spending time on recruiting new agents for us, not fighting battles in the Parliament Buildings.
Brown: I've done all I can to convince people to join us. Mutants won't. After the Collective, what happened with Weapon Omega, and how Northstar, Aurora, Lil, and Jeffries have portrayed us to the mutant community, we have no hope with them.
Arachne: What about making a team of Guardians?
Brown: Hard enough to make one suit work right; besides, we've been pushed into a corner about using powersuits by HAMMER, and SHIELD before them. I'd love to have brigades of Epsilons, Guardians, and Vindicators, but it won't happen. We can't even use the Hardliner tech, we're under a barrel.
Sasquatch: What about Talisman and Snowbird? Two is better than none.
Brown: Both have said the same thing, time and time again: we'll help in an emergency, otherwise don't bother.
Arachne: Aren't there any other possibilities?
Brown (Leaning back and sighing): Very few super powered people pop up unless they're mutants. Weapon PRIME is dead, the Legacies lost their powers, any mutants who may have joined us lost their powers, the Beta Project was years from completion and was shut down by SHIELD anyway. All Department H projects were closed down at SHIELD's demand.
Arachne: CSIS has no black ops projects rattling around?
Brown: Anything we had, all coming from Department H, and it was basically paperwork, was taken by SHIELD and is now in Osborne's hands.
Sasquatch: So you're basically saying we're pooched?
Brown: In a nutshell. My hands are tied in a lot of ways and I've got nothing left to untie them. You two should seriously search for other jobs.
Sasquatch: Already got one.
Both Brown and Arachne look at him quizzically.
Sasquatch: After what Pointer did to my friends and teammates, I saw the writing on the wall. Become part of an international police service, quit and go back to being just a researcher, or take a different path. Joining Omega Flight was not my first choice.
Arachne: I doubt any of us saw Omega Flight as a way of moving forward in our lives. It filled the gap until something better came along.
Brown: I'm surprised, Julia, that you never made a move, especially after Walker left. Omega Flight really had no momentum anyway, and when HAMMER replaced SHIELD we started going backwards.
Arachne: Problem is, I like Canada, I like living here. But I need something to do.
Sasquatch: It's time we moved on then.
Sasquatch motions for them to follow him. He turns back into Langkowski and has Brown and Arachne follow him into his car. Wordlessly they drive to the old site of Department H.
Brown: Why come here? The place has been gone for months.
Arachne: Maybe he's got an experiment running underneath the rubble.
Sasquatch: Quiet, you.
They approach what was the back of the Department H complex.
Brown: You do know that everything was taken, down to the last nut and bolt. If you ever had anything running underground it was found long ago. SHIELD came in here and investigated any anomaly, any energy, and change. No way anything useful is here.
Sasquatch: Oh yee of little faith. There's enough ambient radiation to block anyone listening in here, for one thing. Let's get to brass tacks: we are faced with extinction, the country is about to lose a huge chunk of its sovereignty, and no one has even the remotest idea of how to fix things. We're between a rock and a hard place.
Brown: Agreed. I'd say the Cabinet will give up and surrender to HAMMER within the month, maybe sooner. All the shouting the M.P.'s can muster in the House will matter not.
Sasquatch: So, Agent Brown, Arachne, I have a proposal: join Alpha Flight.
Arachne: Sure, but how will a name change do us any good?
Brown: I'm not sure what role you expect me to play, CSIS....
Sasquatch: Is yesterday's news. My boy, have you ever considered a change in careers?
Brown: Don't tell me: Director of SHIELD.
Sasquatch (Laughing): Not quite. I'm thinking Guardian.
Brown: What!?!
Sasquatch: Don't deny that you've coveted the role. Jeff, you remind me an awful lot of James Hudson. Literate, intelligent, trying to work within the system, liaising with the government, black hair... Of course, as a scientist you have no hope....
Brown: That hurts!
Sasquatch: ....but as a tactician and 'hero in the making' you have Mac outclassed. You have skills and leadership ability, and experience. What would you rather do, sit behind a desk or get back in the game, front and center?
Brown: I'll admit that 'Guardian' has a nice ring to it. And I do miss being involved in operations. But I have no experience....
Sasquatch: Good, it's settled, welcome to the team!
Arachne: And since I'm redheaded, I'm Vindicator now?
Sasquatch: (Laughing even louder): I think Arachne will do fine. Follow me.
Brown: Where? There's nothing here.
Sasquatch: Excuse me? 'Eugene Milton Judd, left diamond, open acorn, Puck 88'.
Suddenly, they all vanish, and reappear in an empty room.
Brown: The Prometheus Pit? How in the heck....
Sasquatch: Even without Haddock's machines it still exists. Funny thing is, you don't need a power source to access or manipulate it. You just have to know how to unlock it. Helps if you're the one who locked it in the first place.
Arachne: Dandy.
Brown: So where are we?
Sasquatch: Amazingly, back at CSIS. Or rather, 'next door' and 30 m down. You are absolutely correct, no one could have hidden any 'off the books' projects at the old Department H site. But I did say Omega Flight was not my first choice. There is a 'different path'.
Arachne: Don't leave us in suspense. I'm dying to see what you've been cooking.
Sasquatch: In here (He motions to the only door visible) There's so much going on in CSIS that this place is masked very well.
In the go, to find what Langkowski has been working on. One person, easily recognizable, is on a computer. Another young Inuit girl is sleeping. Another body is on the floor.
Nemesis: So you finally caved in and brought them to the Basement. As much as I enjoy the cobwebs I am looking forward to something other than babysitting. The Inuit girl raises an eyebrow at that bit of news, but says nothing.
Arachne: How long have you been here?
Nemesis: Two days. Sasquatch told us to wait here, that he'd be back soon with you two. Took long enough.
Sasquatch: I made no promises.
Brown: Uh, isn't Nemesis dead?
Nemesis: How kind of you to notice.
Brown: (Grimacing): You know what I mean.
Sasquatch: Why waste a good resource? Sure Amelia has sloughed off the mortal coil forever but Scell can find its own master. I'm just glad it's not Witchfire.
Brown: So who's the other girl?
Sasquatch: Remember when Alpha Flight was captured by the Plodex and I had to find a new team? She was the only person I didn't ask to join.
Arachne: Can she speak English?
Sasquatch: A bit. She's from a nomadic family. She gained her powers the day I became Sasquatch, I never knew any overflow was possible. But her family was very close and Beth here was caught up in my machinations.
Brown: So she can Hulk out?
Sasquatch: Nothing of the sort. She's connected to the universe, and can move things like a telekinetic, only better. She wants to be Vindicator. But no power suit, just a uniform.
Arachne: How did you find her?
Sasquatch: Her parents brought her to Department H years ago. They knew she was special and needed to be where she could use her abilities. So they left her with me. I left her with Talisman, I brought her back. It'll be nice having someone on the team immune to Professor X and his ilk.
Brown: So what about the person lying down?
Sasquatch: This is where the 'black ops' come in. SHIELD and now HAMMER would drop bombs on this place if they knew what I was doing here.
Arachne: (Inspecting the person closer): Is it an android?
Sasquatch: A cyborg, really. It'll be too much for me to explain it all but I took what I could from the Beta Project and manipulated it in a petri dish. Then I let it grow, and I modified it as I saw fit. Basically it's a new life form, I suppose. A silicon-based synthoid.
Arachne: Is it alive?
Sasquatch: Resting. No metal, all ceramic parts and some organic molecules in the nervous system. It is immune to most energy attacks, is quite durable, can regrow body parts, melt a lot of things at it's touch.
The synthoid starts to rise. It smiles at the new arrivals, nods to Sasquatch, and stretches.
Arachne: How 'human' is it?
Sasquatch: Mentally, it has its own personality. It's like a person. An abomination, you'd agree. You can see why I had to hide it.
Brown: Whats it's name?
Boxx: I want to be called Box, nice and simple, but Dr. Langkowski says the name belongs to someone else. So I'm adding an 'x'. You can call me Boxx.
Sasquatch (Shrugging.): Semantics.
Guardian Starting to show some enthusiasm): Let me be the first to say it: welcome, everyone, to Alpha Flight!
Arachne: So what do we do now?
Sasquatch: Go out and show ourselves to the world. Give the Cabinet a reason to slam the door on Osborne. Nemesis?
Nemesis: They are on the run, leaving their pursuers behind. So far no deaths.
Guardian: What?
Sasquatch: Nemesis is locked into the CSIS system and is monitoring a super powered crime in process. Let's go. Suit up, Guardian.
Brown: What, no training? How will we get there?
Sasquatch: On the job training. We'll use the Pit access. Guardian, you take point. Our targets are a threesome, using Sentinel technology. We need to take them about before HAMMER can respond. Let's show the world what we can do!!
And off they go, unwavering in their commitment. Vindicator easily corrals the three fugitives with her powers; they fire wildly but one is captured in a trap set by Arachne. Another falls to Guardian. Sasquatch and Boxx corner the third, who surrenders when Nemesis cuts off her arm. Not only does HAMMER take note, so does the Master and his Hardliners. He knows his window of opportunity for taking over Canada, and the world, just got a lot smaller. Who will rue this day more, the Master, Osborne, or whoever else has designs on Canada's sovereignty?
